Today the Carolina Hurricanes announced that Nicolas Roy and Janne Kuokkanen were released from the NHL training camp and returned to their junior hockey clubs. Janne Kuokkanen will join the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League, and Nicolas Roy will rejoin the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The moves drop the Hurricanes training camp roster to 51 players. Part of the process more than negative statements on Nicolas Roy and Janne Kuokkanen The moves fit within the expected schedule for the Hurricanes roster cuts that I outlined earlier this week. I would not consider either cut a real demotion. At his age and early stage of development, I think the basic idea with Janne Kuokkanen was to give him a taste of training camp and then NHL action in preseason before getting him quickly started on his first season in North America playing in the OHL. Some had Nicolas Roy as a dark horse/player to watch. I never really did. He is a good hockey player who still projects well and offers great upside for being only a fourth round pick, but he just is not there mobility-wise yet. I think that is a general theme for any and all mid-tier prospects trying to make today’s NHL. The league is ‘skating above all else’, so for players who are average or below average in terms of skating ability and speed, the deck is stacked against them unless they are utterly phenomenal in other aspects of the game. Quick assessments of Roy and Kuokkanen Nicolas Roy Prior to the 2014-15 season, Roy was...